The Story of BIPOC Podcast Creators: How it started and why it ended

By Tangia R. Al-awaji Estrada and Maribel Quezada Smith

BIPOC Podcast Creators Cofounders: “We did what we set out to do”. Behind the founders: BIPOC Podcast Creators at events in Washington D.C., Phoenix, New York and Chicago.

When BIPOC Podcast Creators launched in 2021, there was nothing else like it. We were the first organization in podcasting history built by and for all BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color) creators — not as a diversity initiative inside a larger institution, but as a standalone organization with a singular purpose: to make sure our voices, our stories, and our talent had a permanent seat at the table.

That distinction mattered then. It still matters now.

We were also the first organization amplifying underrepresented voices in podcasting to earn meaningful support from major global players in the industry. And that support didn't come from faceless institutions, it came from specific people who chose to show up for this community.

Yolanda Sangweni and Kristin Hume at NPR. Elsie Escobar, Andy Rogers, and Cori Fry Hengst at Libsyn. Justine Benjamin, Crystal Cameron, Aimi Knowling, and Caitlin Van Horn at Simplecast and AdsWiz. Eileen Bramlet and Courtney Lang at The Copyright Alliance. Michele Cobb at The Podcast Academy. Dan Franks at Podcast Movement. Rock Felder, Zach Moreno, and Arielle Nissenblatt at Squadcast.fm. Alberto Betella and Ben Richardson at RSS.com. Gabriel Soto, Melissa Kiesche, and Larry Rosin at Edison Research.

We also had early support from community leaders like Danielle Desir Corbett, formerly of Women of Color Podcasters; Talib Jasir with Afros & Audio; Corey Gumbs with Black Podcaster Association; Demetrious Bagley with Black Podcast Awards; and Elsie Escobar and Jessica Kupferman formerly with She Podcasts.

And we assembled the first board of advisors in this space composed of bonafide global podcasting leaders, hall of famers, and true industry shapers — people who believed in this community before the rest of the industry caught up.

These were not passive endorsements, these were people who opened doors, made introductions, and put their credibility behind what we were building. We will always be grateful to them.

We say all of this not to boast. We say it because the record should reflect it.

How It Started

The truth is, BIPOC Podcast Creators was born of a combination of opportunity, frustration, and conviction.

When Danielle Desir Corbett decided to move WOC Podcasters off Facebook, we saw a gap forming. There were other communities serving specific creators of color, but we saw an opportunity to serve these creators in another way. We wanted to bring the BIPOC community as a whole together and work alongside the existing communities already doing great work.

So we made a deliberate choice: BIPOC Podcast Creators would serve the entire spectrum of BIPOC creators across genders and geographies. Though the online BPC platform was closed to anyone outside of the BIPOC community, we invited allies in from day one — not as leaders, but as supporters. We believed then, and still believe, that momentum grows fastest and understanding is built when people outside your community commit to show up alongside you. That decision changed how we were perceived and received across the industry, and it opened doors.

We also came in with a specific point of view about what our community actually needed. We (Maribel & Tangia) had just wrapped a masterclass built around a new term that was circulating in the industry, podfade, the phenomenon where roughly 78% of podcasters never make it past their seventh episode. We were among the first to bring that conversation directly to BIPOC creators, because we were tired of watching our community get the same recycled 101 content while the real knowledge gap — the space between entry-level and expert-level podcasting — went completely unaddressed. BIPOC Podcast Creators set out to fill that gap. We wanted our community to not just start podcasts, but to sustain them and become a force to be reckoned with in the meantime.

This didn’t happen out of nowhere. Between us, we brought decades of hard-earned expertise to this organization. Tangia is a PR and brand strategist, international public speaker, and community builder whose background spans grassroots organizing, media relations, strategic corporate communications, public policy, and campaigning. She knows what it takes to fight for structural change — from the ground level to the national stage — and she brought that same strategic muscle to everything we built at BPC, and now, brings it to Audacious Strategies. Her work has been recognized by USA Today, Bustle, and NPR, among others.

Maribel comes from the world of television and audio production — over 20 years developing meaningful content for global audiences, with credits spanning Discovery Networks, Netflix, TLC, A&E, and award-winning podcast productions. A Signal Award winner, international public speaker, bilingual storyteller, and founder of Diferente Creative, a Phoenix-based media production company.

We weren't hobbyists who stumbled into podcasting. We were practitioners who saw a problem, had the tools to address it, and decided it was time to act.

Left to right: Tangia R Al-awaji Estrada, Denise Soler Cox, Julius Hinton and Michelle Jackson on stage at BIPOC Podcast Creators Audio Flavor - Denver event

What We Built

We formed the LLC in 2021 and bootstrapped the launch. With a professionally designed website, a clear mission, and a lot of belief that the community would show up if we built something worth showing up for. The original idea was modest: start a Facebook group and "see what happens." Four months later, we had 500 creators signed up with no advertising or targeting. Just word of mouth and shout outs from some fellow community builders in the space. That early momentum told us everything we needed to know.

We built out a schedule of monthly webinars and made our official public debut at Podcast Movement 2021 in Nashville. Simplecast answered the call and became our first event sponsor. From there, we met twice a week for two hour working-sessions and moved with intention. We identified our dream advisors and went after them. We built a consistent calendar of networking and educational programming. And we never stopped expanding what was possible for our community.

Five years later, the body of work speaks for itself. We grew to 2,200 creators across the US and internationally. We produced dozens of webinars. We hosted sold-out events around the world in Denver, Nashville, Phoenix, Chicago, LA, New York, Columbus, Dallas, Las Vegas, Washington D.C., Boise, London, and Riyadh and presented on global stages. Jobs were secured and careers redirected through our networking events and job postings. And we're particularly proud of several firsts: the first ever BIPOC Podcast Service Provider Directory, and a formal partnership with The Podcast Academy's mentorship pipeline, creating a direct pathway for BIPOC creators to connect with industry leaders who could help them go further, faster.

We also ran a monthly email newsletter called What’s Poppin’ In Podcasting — and we want to be clear about what made it different. Every article, every resource, every piece of educational content we shared was verified. That was non-negotiable, because one of the things that genuinely plagued our community was the proliferation of what we lovingly call the fakexpert. A fakexpert is someone who performs with authority they don't have, overpromises results, and uses unethical methods to extract money from unsuspecting creators. We saw it constantly. People selling "#1 ranking placement" in Apple Podcasts for $10,000, something that simply cannot be bought, and if it could, would cost way more than that. We made it a personal mission to call this out, protect our community from it, and run these predators out of the space. “What’s Poppin’ In Podcasting” was one of the ways we did that — consistently, every month, for years.

Why We're Closing

In building BPC, transparency was always non-negotiable and now it's our turn to be honest. Those who know us would expect nothing less.

The truth is we're both ready for a new chapter. We each have young families, growing businesses, and limited capacity. Raising little humans while running this community the right way — with the intention, consistency, and care it has always deserved — requires more than we can give right now. The good ol' tale of "you can have it all" is bullshit and we're not going to pretend otherwise. Both of us have loved this process and journey but we have also suffered through the emotional and physical toll of building something that matters. Perhaps in our new paths we'll find the time to teach a masterclass in achieving "work/life balance." We're laughing really hard as we write this…

Community building is ninety percent invisible work. What people see are the sold-out events. What they don't see is the months of coordination, relationship-tending, and emotional labor required to create that momentum. There were seasons when that invisible work felt like we were carrying the weight alone. Eventually, that became unsustainable alongside our personal lives.

We also built this as a community-based company — not a corporate DEI initiative. But the political climate around DEI made potential partners hesitant to be publicly associated with us, even when their values aligned with our mission. Further, corporate interests and celebrity have been prioritized over the creativity and cultural contributions of indie podcast creators. Most corporate partners now prioritize download metrics over the creators with real talent and creative edge. We fear this means podcasting is losing the authentic human connection that made it matter in the first place.

Did we try to keep it going? Absolutely. We explored transitioning BIPOC Podcast Creators to new leadership. We wanted to find the right people to carry it forward. But even after many conversations with potential new ownership, the right fit never materialized. Ultimately, we made the deliberate choice to close it down rather than let it fade slowly into something it was never meant to be.

This work requires sacrifice. We gave everything we could, and now we're giving that energy back to ourselves and our families.

That decision was hard and it was also the right one.

We built this community with intention from day one, and we're closing it the same way — on our own terms, with our heads held high, and with deep gratitude for every single person who showed up and made it real.

From Left to right: Cofounders - Tangia Al-awaji Estrada & Maribel Quezada Smith at Podcast Movement Denver.

The Work Isn't Over

Closing BIPOC Podcast Creators does not mean the work is done. But let's be clear about what five years of this community actually accomplished.

We helped close gaps. We watched creators go from uncertain beginners to confident, sustainable podcasters. We saw careers change, collaborations form, and BIPOC voices land on stages and platforms they had never had access to before. We built a talent pipeline that the industry noticed and engaged with. We proved — with receipts — that when BIPOC creators are given the right resources, community, and access, they don't just survive in this industry. They lead it.

The podcasting landscape looks different today than it did in 2021, and we are proud to have played a positive role in that shift.

But the work continues. There are still creators who need community, mentorship, and access. There are still platforms, networks, and agencies that need to do more, not as a diversity checkbox, but as a genuine and sustained commitment to the creators who are actively growing this industry.

To anyone thinking about picking up where we left off — we will cheer you on and we hope you go further than we did.

Now go build.

BIPOC Podcast Creators at Las Vegas meetup event

To Our Community

This community was never just ours. It was yours.

The connections you made, the collaborations you built, the growth you experienced — none of that ends because we're closing the doors. You showed up to workshops and masterclasses. You filled our networking events. You shared your wins and your challenges. You supported each other through the hard parts and celebrated each other through the breakthroughs. You built real relationships and did real work together.

That was you. We just built the room.

Special thanks to our advisors who were with us from day one: Elsie Escobar, Yolanda Sangweni, Twila Dang, Evo Terra, Chris Colbert, Christabel Nsiah-Buadi, Dane Cardiel, and Donald Albright. Your guidance, your credibility, and your belief in this work meant everything.

Stay connected with each other. Keep supporting each other's work. This specific space is closed, but the community you built is yours to keep.

And this is not the end of our work. We're both still here — Tangia at Audacious Strategies and Maribel at Diferente Creative — still committed to amplifying BIPOC voices in media. We'll just be doing it in new ways now.

Thank you for trusting us with this space. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for building something beautiful together.

With love and pride,

Tangia R. Al-awaji Estrada & Maribel Quezada Smith

Co-Founders, BIPOC Podcast Creators

For more on this story:

Read the full press release in Podnews and listen to our conversation with James Cridland on the Podnews Podcast.